The day I stopped watching boxing and all blood sports…Forever
I once cheered on a brave man’s death. My guilt has no bounds for what this crazy world has deemed appropriate as sport. The fact that I once thought that these injurious spectacles of human determination — presented as gladiator sports — were appropriate — to me, brings me a huge sense of shame.
I was born (1963) and raised as a huge boxing fan — and Ray Mancini was an icon of everything that I believed in — duty, family, religion, -we were about the same age and shared so much in common. So, this championship fight in 1982 was something that I could not miss. And, what a fight it was — two spectacular athletes giving their all to succeed.
It was the pinnacle of boxing skills and determination. I vividly remember when Duk Koo Kim finally went down and how hard I cheered for Ray.
Yet, it all ended up in so much tragedy for both boxers and their families. One man died and the other had to live with the fact that all his hard work and determination ended up killing another human being. Being raised Catholic, I can only start to imagine the guilt that Ray felt!
Make no mistake- This was the best boxing match I had ever witnessed! Skill, determination, unrelenting blows, two determined opponents, the very best that this “sport” had to offer. Yet, there was no reason for another person to enter a ring and beat another person to death other than for money. I feel a sense of shame and forever guilt since that day.
When the pinnacle of your sport involves killing another human being, something has gone seriously awry in our culture.
I know that there are boxing and MMA fans here who would disagree with me, but yeah — I will never willingly witness another human physically beat someone else. Many of my friends invite me to MMA watch parties and I always decline. I will never again take joy out of witnessing the physical domination of another human being. It is now abhorrent to me and embarrassing that I once revered these type of activities as sports.
The goal in these sports is to either not tap out or to be knocked out. How messed up is that. When someone is knocked out, their brain has been damaged to the point that they can no longer function and to tap out is an acknowledgement that someone else controls their body. Both of these outcomes are incompatible with human decency.
Forever shameful- Tharu1